The rate at which smartphone owners are upgrading their phones fell last year. WSJ's Spencer Ante explains it has a lot to do with the lack of a 'wow' factor. Photo: Getty Images.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... ay ay mm mm ... so ... companies like Apple and Samsung have a little bit of a ... problem ... little bit of a wild problem is that not enough upgrades on the plough ... men will always brings the well go Spencer on pay he wrote the story ... but ... and if you don't bring a while ... what is the problem with these prints right ... so for the first time last year that the percent of people that were upgrading on their phones declined last year and has two things going one is that ... almost everyone in the U S has a smartphone ... saturation is is this a deepening seventy percent of Americans are on contracts ... a world context ... Mobile ... smart smartphone ... and also ... the um the money's esteem smartphone owners feel worse he needed to upgrade because ... the son of the phones are not a of the pace of innovation is slowing down is in the story ... it's it's it's also Italian car companies we look at the current ... year the year the models are pretty much the same couple and no bells and whistles but did not ... accuse the sun all might be a unique Camaro every once in awhile yes I mean that the knowledge I will make its compared to the PC industry and after the birth of the PC so but one of the PC and your foreign late seventies early there was a lot of it ... each new model was really a big step ... and then eventually ... things kind of like uh modified is the big companies came in like IBM and down the basically standardized market ... and and it was a was a commodity ... seeing things from happening the smartphone with its silvery Coal Industry ... Idol incentive or make an enormous causes ... the but the point is that the boom era is coming to an end ... and that ... they don't have to come out with the new game changer ... we're nukes maybe software development into the hardware is is like is is not change much and last for years ... and is offered all of the can really excite consumers to be defensive upgrade ... right now for the cellphone carrier's is reflecting another half of that comes in ... Utah but these big subsidies that are costing these guys money ... and we saw just over last week or so great eighteen T T Mobile ... the truck all the plans that get away from that yet ... exactly so ... that the phone companies realize this is becoming an air show in so as you said ... in the last week or two like eighteen T announcing the easier upgrade from program T Mobile announced easier upgrade program ... is not clear what the impact that is gonna be but I think you will probably help on the accelerator or villages upgrades a little bit but you know spun out to be a widespread phenomenon because ... he has problems don't offer the might say that the TT program you basically paying twice what should normally pay for your phone ... but it does give the piece of early adopter crowd that the Tiki geeky crowd who really wanted sort of like ... get the latest model in the late Bill probably time for sin ally we'll get the point where it to really see something ... new and all that well that the way for the wearable computers ... well you know you talk to the executives these come is of course don't reject the idea in the region slowing down right ... but ... you know I'd talk to the executive to T Mobile he basically said yes you know I did the same thing for the I phone can now yes there is so unlike us the truth to that ... degree payment technologies you never know whether the next great thing is going to come out he becomes Law fielding ... and so yet some building where balls can be the next pic saying ... Goebel classes for example most common example where a bull's ... this a lot of talk about these like smartwatches they're coming on the scene we don't often and how why was the difference in my ear on why Fi ... you know a lot of pub and will run a one hundred thousand cells obviously but you know what that's that's can it be said of the things to watch is aam ... for the next game changer limited to Oracle's no pun intended into why he wanted to ... hide Spencer thank you very much to ...